Introducing: Clint Smith

A FreeWord alumnus, Clint Smith is one of our highly anticipated speakers/ presenters for the "Second Annual Global Health Conference: Fight 4 Equal Access." A picture is worth a thousand words so how many is a video worth?

If you enjoyed that piece, you would surely not want to miss out on the superb performance that he is going to give at the conference. For detailed information about the conference click here.

In the meantime, you may satisfy yourself by watching more of his videos. :)

http://freewordpoets.wordpress.com/alumni/clint-smith/

Tiyatien Health

Tiyatien. Pronounced tea-ya-tine. Origin:  Kwa, the local dialect in southeast Liberia. Meaning: both ‘truth’ and ‘justice’. 

TiyatienHealth is an organization bringing health workforce and care to remote villages in post-war Liberia, where more than 60% of the nation's rural population lacks access to essential health care. Founded on collaboration between Weafus Quitoe, a community health worker, and Dr. Raj Panjabi, a Harvard-trained physician, the organization trains community members and former patients to serve as health workers, delivering medical and social services to communities previously considered unreachable.

A recent post on their website highlighted an important issue in health: an individual's state of mind.  Members of Tiyatien Health are bringing attention to the burden of mental, neurological, and substance-abuse (MNS) disorders.  While often neglected, MNS disorders contribute greatly to the global burden of disease.  A healthy community must not only have access to physical health care, but mental health care as well.  More information on MNS and proposed plans for addressing this global issue can be accessed here. Tiyatien’s focus on mental and physical health in addition to their sustainable model for delivering health services makes the organization truly worthy of its name-Tiyatien.

What can you do with 50 cents?

With 50 cents, you can help bring the end to 7 neglected diseases!



Check out the End 7 Campaign at their Facebook page: Here

Or Follow on Twitter: @end_7

Dr. David Yanga: Introduction to Conference Speakers

In honor of the upcoming 2^nd Annual Global Health Conference: Fight 4 Equal Access, I thought dedicating a few blog posts to conference speakers and organizations would be a valuable introduction to these persons and initiatives working towards health care equity.

Let’s start with our keynote, Dr. David Yanga, a primary care physician in Southeast Michigan and founder of HealthScepter.  With the current burdening cost of health care on the individual, many patients in need of drugs—locally—are either unable to afford medicines, or must make economic sacrifices to obtain medicines, sacrifices that may severely affect their quality of life.  HealthScepter addresses this issue.  Through a website (http://www.healthscepter.com/index.php), they have organized current online data on transparent medical prices in a straight-forward and focused way, allowing patients and physicians to see transparent prices for medications, labs, imaging studies and equipment.  This website is a patient’s tool to navigate through the medical market; it is an advocate for patients.

While Universities Allied for Essential Medicines devotes much of their fight to access to medicines in low and middle income countries, it is important to recognize and work in our own country to bridge health care disparities.  Dr. Yanga and HealthScepter are prime examples of this work. 

We therefore are very excited to host Dr. David Yanga as our keynote speaker at the 2^nd Annual Global Health Conference: Fight 4 Equal Access on March 31^st-April 1^st.

Stop Novartis

Sign MSF's petition to stop the European Commission from gaining control over generic medications! This is an easy way to add your voice to the Fight 4 Equal Access.


Sign the petition by clicking here: https://action.msf.org/en_CH

Honorable Mention of UAEM by a Nobel Laureate

Nobel laureate Sir John Sulston mentions about UAEM recently at the University of California Global health keynote: http://bit.ly/xBoXsQ (goto 47:07 if you dont want to watch the whole video)

Check out the conference's promotional video! Share it! Tweet it! Post it! Spread the word!